Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laundry machine.
Discussion of the Related Art
“Laundry machine” is a general term referring to home appliances including washing machines having only a washing function of washing clothing, dryers having only a drying function, and machines having both washing and drying functions.
Laundry machines capable of drying clothes supply high-temperature air (hot air) to the laundry, and can be classified into an exhaust type and a circulation (or condensation) type depending on how air flows through the machine.
The circulation type laundry machine circulates air in a laundry accommodating space storing the laundry by removing moisture from the air (i.e., dehumidifying the air) discharged from the laundry accommodating space, heating the air, and then re-supplying the air to the accommodation space.
The exhaust type laundry machine supplies heated air to the laundry accommodating space, but discharges the air discharged from the laundry accommodating space from the laundry machine instead of circulating the air.
A hot air supply device provided to a conventional laundry machine supplies hot air to the laundry accommodating space from the rear side thereof. Accordingly, in a conventional laundry machine, the hot air exchanges heat with the laundry while the air introduced into the rear side of the laundry accommodating space moves to the front side of the laundry accommodating space.
In the case of the conventional laundry machine, when the amount of laundry is large, heat exchange may smoothly occur between the laundry and the air introduced into the laundry accommodating space from the rear side. However, when the amount of the laundry is small, drying efficiency may be degraded.
That is, in the case that a large amount of laundry is accommodated in the laundry accommodating space, the laundry does not frequently contact the inner circumferential surface of the laundry accommodating space when the laundry accommodating space is rotated, and thus the laundry can be easily dried. However, in the case that the amount of the laundry is small, some of the laundry may remain closely contacting the inner circumferential surface of laundry accommodating space even when the laundry accommodating space is rotated to tumble the laundry. Thereby, drying is not easily implemented.